1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to providing an Electronic Program Guide (EPG).
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, broadcast receivers provide broadcast programs via a plurality of channels. Thus, a service for allowing users to easily select a desired broadcast program from the plurality of channels has been suggested, and an EPG is one type of this service. That is, EPG information or EPG channel information is guide information of broadcast programs which can be received by broadcast receivers and provides the convenience of channel selection to users in this modern multi-channel era.
Related art analog televisions (TVs) have a knob for channel selection and a knob for volume control as a user interface. In addition, in order to determine which programs are being broadcast on a particular day, a broadcast guide of a newspaper is referred to. Although the two interfaces are considerably intuitive, they have some disadvantages. The channel selection and volume control knobs have a disadvantage in that a user must control the knobs right in front of a TV, and the broadcast guide of a newspaper is inconvenient because a user must always search a newspaper of that particular day. The development of TVs has resulted in the use of a remote control as a user interface for TV control, and the broadcast guide of a newspaper has been developed to be in the form of EPG channel information. Thus, most current Digital TVs (DTVs) use a remote control as a physical user interface, a Graphic User Interface (GUI) as a user interface for displaying information, and EPG information as broadcast information.
FIG. 1 illustrates a related art TV user interface.
In a related art TV 110, a remote control 120 is used as a user interface for physical control, and a user perceives EPG channel information on a user interface for displaying information. The EPG channel information is a type of application for displaying broadcast information transmitted from a broadcast station and is displayed on a screen. A user uses the remote control 120 to search an EPG display screen 130, and in order to give defined instructions such as a channel change or volume control, the user activates a desired operation by pushing a relevant key of the remote control 120.
If the user uses only the remote control 120, the user must search for and select a desired channel by directly changing channels using a channel UP/DOWN or preferred channel button. If the user can use the EPG channel information, the user can load the EPG display screen 130 and search for and select a desired channel by performing a search using arrow buttons of the remote control 120.
However, since related art remote controls and EPG channel information are not intuitive, beginners experience difficulty in the use of the related art remote controls and EPG channel information, and time is required for a user to become familiar with their use. In addition, since a physical controller, such as a remote control, is separated from a result screen, a user must concentrate on both the remote control and the screen, and thus it is difficult to perceive an entire broadcasting schedule at a glance.
In addition, when a channel search is performed using a channel UP/DOWN button, a channel switching time of hundreds of milliseconds (msec) are required, and thus a relatively long time is taken. Furthermore, even if the EPG channel information including a broadcast screen is used, a desired channel cannot be found quickly due to a channel switching time and a search time.